Nexeus Fatale, DJ Extraordinaire, has hit upon a great way to give back to the community. His 'DJ For a Cause' mission is to donate his DJ services to anyone, individual or organization, who fits the requirements: Their event must be philanthropic in nature (such as fund raising) and has to embody the Holiday theme of giving to others.
I see this as a great way to promote SL's philanthropic nature, which is embodied in its residents. These days, most of the press goes to sensational events, and not enough to the altruism that I see so often in-world. Nexeus is on the right track with this, and hopes that others will follow this example. You can read more of this here.
This is your moment of WTF? Dorling Kindersley, who many of you may know through their wonderful Eyewitness Series of illustrated reference books, have created a new game in Habbo Hotel to promote a new Christmas book called Do Not Open. Apparently it's going well, attracting over 1,000 players in its first week.
However, DK is calling this approach the 'Second Life For Teens model' -- but they're not using Second Life to do it! Couldn't they have called it the 'Virtual Worlds For Teens model' instead? Not to assume too much about the intelligence of the average member of the public, but I can see people getting confused about this quite easily. And it begs the question: Does DK have an interest in SL at all?
Grady Booch might not be a household name, but he's the Chief Scientist for IBM's Rational Software Corp. unit. In a recent interview with Computerworld, Booch has held forth on a number of topics, including his take on SL. His approach to explaining the value of SL to himself is practical:
"IBM has 50 or so islands that we own [in Second Life]. We've derived business value by using it internally. I can look at the lectures I have done and say, "I have saved IBM money." Certainly the company saves huge costs on employee travel and accomodations by holding meetings in SL. Why isn't this being trumpeted more often as worthwhile to the average user? He has a bit more to say, so go check out the rest of the interview.
Tech Digest does a good job here of highlighting 20 trends gleaned from their recent trip to the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe, and they go like this:
1. Shedloads of virtual worlds will be launched in 2008 2. Teen-focused virtual worlds are huge 3. Brands still get it wrong 4. There's a problem with communication 5. There will be big growth in corporate use of virtual worlds
... and 15 more. It would be boorish and redundant to list all twenty here, even without explanation. You'll simply have to trust me and go check out the list yourselves.
This Tech Digest story has it that TokyoZERO, in a partnership with a company calling itself Sun (though not Sun Microsystems, as that's not their logo), are apparently working on a way to get SL on your cellphone. Or perhaps not you, but the Japanese. Now, we've been on this before. Is this any different? For that matter, has anyone tried this other service, and does it work? I can't imagine shoehorning all of SL's features into a cellphone, no matter how advanced. There are some things that just need a mouse and keyboard for a fully realized experience, and SL is one of them.
Someone who reads Japanese: please look over this site and send us some answers!
Welcome to the eighteenth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast!
This episode features Ansel Gasparini, the author of Second Life: A Guide to Your Virtual World. It's merely coincidental that this episode falls on Halloween, as there's nothing scary about this book! Enjoy!
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to On the Inside directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically [Mp3] Download the MP3 directly
I love holidays. So many awesome designers release freebies. I've collected the locations and info of some of them for you. Most are available through the end of today, so get busy!
Carl Linnaeus is a personal hero of mine (and probably every other biologist in the world). He's responsible for developing the structures of taxonomy in biology, the thing that makes humans Homo sapiens sapiens, and the MRSA a multi-drug resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus. The Swedish Embassy in SL is expanding its presence and activities with a permanent exhibition about this famous citizen, which will be inaugurated with an event on Friday (November 2nd) with a couple of competitions (best 18th Century costume, build a plant) with cash prizes as well as information books in a variety of languages. Read more about it on their website.
Hamlet Au is running a poll over on New World Notes. He's asking Second Life users to rate the quality of Linden-to-resident communications in recent months about updates, downtime, policy and so forth.
Think they're doing well, or doing poorly? Go and register your vote. We'll all be watching the results.
If you're not sure who Stephen Fry is, can I direct your attention to his blog and his wikipedia page. He's a quite famous comedic and serious actor, appearing in Blackadder amongst other famous shows, and he's also famous for his erudition as the host of QI.
I've been a fan of his blog, which is relatively new, and his "blessays" and "blisertations" - his blog is not something to skim quickly, but is clever, fun, and interesting as well as blogging his life as an early adopter of technology - something dear to the hearts of many of us.
I have the thinnest of excuses for posting this. In his latest entry (also printed in the Guardian on Saturday) he admits to having a private existence in SL too. I'm not going to try to expose him further than this, but to say a public hello to him.
Even the venerable Straylight sim is getting the Halloween treatment! Thanks to Kriss Lehmann for pointing it out to me, else I'd not have seen it. As you'll see in the gallery, apparently a race of spiders has taken over a good stretch of the forest, and an eerie green glow is emanating from afar. But wait! All is not lost! Make your way to the reception area, and look! A jaunty Halloween party awaits all who enter!
I took advantage of the festivities to chat up a fellow canine and enjoyed the orbiting witchkitty on her broom. There are likely more fun things to be seen, but I'm a wolfie on a mission, I am. Go check it out for yourself!
Nebulosus Severine has taken a slightly different tack with her build -- she's based it upon the classic horror tale 'The Masque of the Red Death', by E. A. Poe, which can be gotten here. It's recommended that you read through the story to familiarize yourself with the layout of the place, and to imbue yourself with the proper atmosphere so you can truly appreciate what Nebulosus has done here.
In fact, not only should you read through the story, but you should also check out the lovely slideshow put together by Vady; not only is it representative of the sights to be had there, but it's also presented in a notably gothic, decaying-projector style that completely complements the build itself. Bravo, Nebulosus! Old Edgar Allen himself would be proud of you!
DarkDharma Daguerre is a hell of an artist. Not only is this one fantastic build, but look at her avatar! That alone would be reason enough for coverage, but the classically spooky haunted house is full of little tricks and treats as well. 9 tarot bags of goodies await your discovery, with various surprises contained within. Let it be known that the house itself belongs to Sagittar Spengler, who did us all a favor by letting DarkDharma work her mischief within.
And hey, if you're as impressed as I was with everything, that might entice you into inquiring about her avatar creation business, which is just across the way from this build! I've only taken a few shots, leaving it for you all to discover, which is all the fun!
Posted Oct 31st 2007 5:00AM by Tateru Nino Filed under: News
Katharine Berry, while not leaving Second Life completely, is winding down pretty much all her Second Life commitments, forum moderator status, shucking her island, and closing off her other Second Life website services except for AjaxLife.
AjaxLife is how we came to know Berry, with her superlative efforts to produce an open-source, web-based, thin-client for Second Life.
Nexeus Fatale, DJ Extraordinaire, has hit upon a great way to give back to the community. His 'DJ For a Cause' mission is to donate his DJ services to anyone, individual or organization, who fits the requirements: Their event must be philanthropic in nature (such as fund raising) and has to embody the Holiday theme of giving to others.
I love holidays. So many awesome designers release freebies. I've collected the locations and info of some of them for you. Most are available through the end of today, so get busy!
Hamlet Au is 
If you're not sure who Stephen Fry is, can I direct your attention to 
Katharine Berry, while not leaving Second Life completely, is winding down pretty much all her Second Life commitments, forum moderator status, shucking her island, and closing off her other Second Life website services except for 
